THAT  BETTER  WORLD 


BY 

GEORGE  W.  FIELD,  D.D. 


BOSTON; 

CHARLES  G.  CHASE,  PUBLISHER, 
10  Centkal  Street. 


Copyright,  1890, 

By  Charles  G.  Chase. 


THE  SOUTH  PUBLISHING  CO.,  ENGRAVERS  & PRINTERS, 
22  COLLEGE  PLACE,  NEV^  YORK. 


This  sermon  is  printed  by  a friend  of 
the  author^  with  the  hope  that  it  may 
carrij  comfort  to  the  hearts  of  many 
bereaved  and  suffering  ones. 


43385 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2017  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/thatbetterworldOOfiel 


THAT  BETTER  WORLD. 


Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father.  — Matthew  13 : 43. 

HESP2  v/ords  invite  us  to  some 
thoughts  upon  heaven.  If  we 
thought  more  of  that  better 
world,  we  should  desire  it  more,  and  our 
lives  might  be  more  in  harmony  with  its 
spirit. 

But  can  we  have  any  definite  concep- 
tion of  that  world  ? Are  not  all  the 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  in  regard  to  it, 
of  a very  vague  and  general  nature  ? 
They  are  indeed  so  — too  mucli  so,  per- 
haps, to  justify  us  in  speaking  of  the  details 
of  the  future  life  with  any  degree  of  posi- 
tiveness. And  yet,  even  from  these  general 
statements,  we  can  deduce  particular  con- 


6 


That  Better  World. 


ceptions,  suggestive  to  the  mind  and  stim- 
ulating to  the  heart.  When  I read,  for 
instance,  that  we  are  to  be  clothed  upon 
hereafter  with  a spiritual  body  (a  body 
perfectly  tractable  to  the  spirit,  in  harmony 
with  it,  instead  of  a clog  and  an  incum- 
brance as  this  material  body  so  often  is), 
does  not  that  one  broad  statement  throw  a 
very  blessed  light  over  the  heavenly  state, 
and  does  it  not  suggest  a multitude  of 
analogies  as  well  as  of  differences  be- 
tween the  present  and  the  future  ? When 
I read  of  a paradise,  of  trees  of  life  and 
waters  of  life,  of  fruits  and  flowers  that 
never  wither  and  fade  ; when  I read  of 
a city  whose  walls  are  gold,  whose  pave- 
ments are  jasper,  whose  gates  are  pearl,  — 
am  I not  justified  thereby  in  attaching 
all  conceptions  of  beauty  of  nature  or  of 
art  to  that  world;  in  believing  that  what- 
ever fairness  of  scenery  or  richness  of 
adornment  earth  hath  ever  exhibited  to 
me,  or  my  fancy  conceived,  falls  infinitely 


That  Better  World. 


7 


short  of  tlie  beauty  and  glory  which  is 
over  the  abodes  of  the  blessed ; that  when 
I let  fancy  revel  and  gather  all  forms  of 
gorgeonsness  and  magnifieence,  I only 
err  in  the  adequacy  of  the  conception, 
in  putting  such  ordinary  beauties  in  the 
place  of  the  ineffable  glories  which  are 
to  be  over  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth  ? When  I read  that  we  are  not 
to  sorrow  for  onr  lost  friends,  as  those 
who  have  no  hope,  that  is,  no  hope  of 
meeting  them  again ; when  I read  (as 
I do  in  so  many  pages  of  the  Bible)  of 
the  communion  and  fellowship  of  heaven, 
— what  a storehouse  of  blessedness  is 
opened  to  me  at  once  in  the  thought  of 
the  renewed  and  the  perpetuated  friend- 
ships and  affections  of  heaven  ! and  what 
forbids  a sanctified  imagination,  guided 
by  the  laws  of  our  spiritual  nature,  from 
drawing  a thousand  scenes  of  social  bliss, 
richer  than  we  now  know  how  distinctly 
to  conceive  ? When  I hear  Paul  longing 


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That  Better  World. 


to  depart  that  he  may  be  with  Christ, 
that  one  little  touch  of  being  with  Christ, 
what  a glimpse  does  it  give  me  into  the 
whole  life  of  holy  beings,  and  what  end- 
less particular  enjoyments  my  imagination 
und  my  reason  find  clustering  around  the 
idea  of  the  society  and  the  friendships  of 
exalted  intelligences,  and,  most  of  all,  the 
society  and  friendship  of  the  Divine  Man ! 
And  though  all  our  representations  and 
our  conceptions  of  heaven,  of  its  beauty, 
its  freedom,  its  friendships,  its  raptures  of 
adoration,  necessarily  fall  short  of  the 
intensity  and  the  glory  of  the  reality,  yet 
are  they  the  best  our  imperfect  natures 
permit ; and  they  serve  a good  purpose, 
even  as  the  coarse  pictures  and  hiero- 
glyphics of  savages  convey  from  tribe  to 
tribe  an  idea,  though  it  be  imperfect,  of 
things  which  only  the  written  speech  of 
a cultivated  mind  can  adequately  body 
forth.  And  so  though  the  teachings  of 
the  Bible  may  be  very  general  and  vague, 


That  Better  World, 


9 


yet  they  lead  us  to  definite  conceptions 
which  may  be  very  useful  and  stimulating 
to  us. 

Before  speaking  of  these  conceptions,  let 
me  say  that  I cannot  now,  as  in  my  earlier 
days,  speak  of  the  Christian  as  entering 
immediately  at  death  on  the  complete 
happiness  and  perfection  of  his  being.  I 
believe  indeed  that  death  shall  bring  an 
exceeding  exaltation  of  condition  and  of 
character.  I can  see  how  that  shall  be, 
must  be,  in  the  nature  of  things,  as  I shall 
show.  But  I do  not  see  what  power  there 
can  be  in  death,  in  the  ceasing  of  the  heart 
to  beat  and  the  blood  to  flow,  to  bring 
about  so  unspeakable  a change  as  the  full 
bliss  of  the  body  and  spirit ; nor  can  I con- 
eeive  of  God  as  putting  forth  his  power  to 
produce  such  a result  in  opposition  to 
those  laws  of  voluntary  growth  and  of 
gradual  development  which  prevail  every- 
where else  in  the  universe  as  far  as  we 
know  of  it,  and  which  seem  inseparable 


10 


That  Better  World. 


from  our  nature  as  far  as  u e understand 
it.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  do  not  stop  to 
consider  what  is  implied  in  perfection  of 
condition  and  of  character,  or  we  should 
be  staggered  at  the  thought  of  its  ensuing 
at  once  with  scarcely  an  instant’s  interval 
upon  the  exceeding  imperfections  of  this 
mortality,  nor  should  we  think  it  possible. 
If  I were  in  an  instant  to  become  a per- 
fect being,  with  every  faculty  of  thought, 
every  sensibility  and  affection,  every  ca- 
pacity of  enjoyment  carried  to  its  utmost 
limit,  lifted  to  its  utmost  height,  I should 
not  know  myself,  I should  not  be  myself. 
It  would  be  another  being  created  to  take 
the  place  of  the  old  one,  separated  from  it 
by  so  wide  a space  that  the  personal  iden- 
tity could  not  span  the  chasm  nor  recog- 
nize itself.  If  it  could,  it  would  perha[)s 
be  too  much  for  it.  As  it  is  sometimes 
said  that  the  sudden  vision  of  God  would 
consume  the  mortal  who  looked  upon  it, 
so  such  a swift  transition  from  the  exceed- 


That  Better  World. 


11 


ing  imperfections  of  earth  to  the  perfect 
happiness  and  good  of  heaven  would  be 
too  much  for  the  spirit  to  endure ; it 
would  perish  in  the  excess  of  its  blessed- 
ness. Moreover,  those  who  believe  (a& 
our  Church  generally  has  believed)  in 
a middle  state,  an  existence  intervening 
before  the  final  judgment,  might  be 
asked  to  say  what  purpose  such  an  inter- 
mediate state  could  serve,  except  the 
development  of  tlie  being  along  the  lines 
on  which  it  has  started  itself  in  life,  its 
development  towards  a consummation 
which  will  lead  on  naturally  to  its  full 
heaven.  If  at  the  moment  of  death  the 
good  enter  upon  that  perfection  of  char- 
acter and  of  bliss  which  makes  our  essen- 
tial conception  of  heaven,  why  should 
they  be  thought  of  as  detained  from  the 
actual  heaven  during  those  long  inter- 
vening cycles  of  ages?  But  if  we  sup- 
pose that  during  this  intermediate  period 
they  are  advancing  in  goodness,  in  knowl- 


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That  Better'  World. 


edge,  ui  love,  in  all  nobility  of  cliaracter 
and  of  life,  gradually  growing  in  ripeness 
for  the  final  consummation,  we  shall  see 
abnndaot  significance  in  it.  But  whether 
with  a belief  in  an  intermediate  state  or 
not,  it  seems  to  me  quite  incredible  to 
suppose  that  the  spirit  at  the  very 
moment  of  entering  the  higher  life 
reaches  that  perfection  of  its  nature 
which  is  rather  the  goal  and  consum- 
mation towards  which  it  will  be  approach- 
ing through  interminable  ages. 

What,  then,  is  the  change  which  takes 
place  at  death,  to  the  good  man,  and  what 
may  be  conceived  to  be  the  advantages, 
the  blessedness  of  the  condition  on  which 
he  then  enters? 

In  considering  this,  we  will  follow  the 
track  of  thought  which  suggested  itself 
when,  a few  moments  since,  I spoke  of  the 
definite  conceptions  of  heaven  which  de- 
velop themselves  out  of  the  few  general 
statements  of  the  Bible,  in  regard  to  the 


That  Better  World. 


leS 

spiritual  body,  the  l)eauty  of  heaven,  its 
friendships,  its  worship. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  change, 
and  the  exaltation  of  condition  implied  in 
the  exchange  of  the  present  material  body 
for  that  spiritual  body  with  which  the 
Scriptures  so  plainly  assert  that  we  shall 
be  clothed  upon  at  death. 

This  at  least  we  must  understand  of 
the  spiritual  l)ody : it  is  free  from  the 
limitations,  the  infirmities,  the  pains,  the 
disabilities  which  in  the  nature  of  things 
inhere  in  tlie  material  body.  To  the 
spiritual  body  there  can  be  no  sickness, 
weakness,  weariness,  no  need  of  food  and 
raiment  and  material  supplies  to  support 
a material  existence,  no  poverty  therefore, 
no  want,  no  business  cares  and  perplexi- 
ties — none  surely  of  the  drudgery  of 
physical  work.  No  longer  shall  men  and 
women,  endowed  with  faculties  of  thought, 
of  imagination,  of  reason,  — endowed  with 
loftiest  and  finest  sensibilities,  — be  con- 


14 


That  Better  World. 


demiiecl  to  spend  their  days  in  mechanical 
pursuits  for  ends  better  accomplished  by 
many  machines  of  modern  invention. 
You  whose  life  is  bound  to  some  tedious 
and  unvaried  employment  which  is  irk- 
some to  you  and  gives  no  play  to  your 
liigher  nature,  if  an  edict  should  go  forth, 
“Labor  no  more;  be  free  to  expatiate  in 
thoughts  and  pursuits  congenial  to  you,” 
what  a weary  bondage  it  would  liberate 
you  from,  and  what  a glorious  enlarge- 
ment you  would  feel  it  to  be  ! You  who 
have  the  seeds  of  disease  sown  in  your 
bodies,  and  who  struggle  day  after  day 
and  month  after  month  against  feebleness, 
and  infirmities,  and  all  whose  plans  and 
schemes  for  the  future  are  perplexed,  and 
all  whose  enjoyments  are  clouded  by  this 
constant  sense  of  debility  and  constant 
fear  of  something  worse  ever  threatening 
— suppose  that  in  an  instant  liealth  and 
vigor  should  enter  your  system,  and  an 
inexpressible  elasticity,  ease,  and  lightness 


That  Better  World. 


15 


should  [)ervade  all  the  movements  ot 
mind  and  body,  so  that  you  should  feel 
not  only  that  disease  was  worked  out,  but 
that,  stretch  and  strain  your  powers  to  tlie 
utmost  and  yield  yourself  to  all  expos- 
ures, no  weariness  or  languor  or  sickness 
or  pain  would  ensue,  why,  this  simple 
thing  would  almost  change  the  whole 
complexion  of  life  and  make  heaven  out 
of  it  for  a time.  When  we  consider  how 
much  of  the  suffering  of  life,  of  its  dis- 
abilities, its  failures,  come  from  the  body 
(the  body  doubtless  has  its  glorious  side 
that  shall  be  taken  up  into  the  spiritual), 
how  much,  I say,  of  the  suffering  and  the 
failure  of  life  come  from  the  material 
body,  from  that  in  it  which  is  of  the 
earth  earthy  — we  shall  feel  that  it  will 
be  an  inexpressible  gain  when  it  is  re- 
placed by  the  spiritual  body. 

Take  again  the  influence  of  the  spirit- 
ual body  in  its  reference  to  character,  so 
much  more  important  than  that  of  happi- 


16 


That  Better  World. 


ness  merely.  In  the  close  union  between 
the  body  and  the  spirit,  the  sins  and 
infirmities  of  the  spirit  work  themselves 
into  the  body  in  some  mysterious  way,  so 
that  when  the  spirit  would  renounce  them 
the  struggle  is  inexpressibly  harder,  often 
only  partially  successful,  because  the  evil  is 
so  imbedded  and  intrenched  in  the  physical 
nature.  I do  not  mean  merely  that  there 
are  sins  of  the  body,  intemperance,  glut- 
tony, sensuality  of  all  kinds ; the  truth 
to  which  I refer  is  broader  and  deeper 
than  that  — every  sin  of  the  mind^  of  the 
hearty  works  some  change  in  the  body 
whereby  the  sin  is  more  likely  to  repeat 
itself.  We  can  see  this  more  plainly  per- 
haps in  the  corporeal  sins.  Take  an  ex- 
treme case,  like  that  of  intemperance. 
Be3'ond  a certain  point  the  body  of 
itself  holds  the  man,  as  it  were,  to  his 
vice ; the  evil  tendency  wrought  into  the 
physical  nature  triumphs  over  the  bet- 
ter desire  awakening  in  the  spiritual 


That  Better  World. 


17 


nature ; the  law  in  the  members,  as  Paul 
says,  triumphs  over  the  law  of  the  mincL 
But  the  same  thing  is  true,  though  less 
obviously,  of  all  sins.  Every  wrong  de- 
sire, peevish  feeling,  outbreak  of  passion, 
makes  haste  to  imprint  and  intrench  itself 
upon  that  part  of  our  nature  which  lies 
halfwa3^  between  the  body  and  the  spirit 
and  partakes  of  the  nature  of  both,  — - the 
nervous  system,  — and  from  that  vantage- 
ground  and  stronghold  is  harder  to  be 
driven  out  of  the  being.  When  the 
repenting  spirit  renounces  the  sin,  the 
unrepentant  body  holds  on,  as  it  were,  to 
its  share  of  it  and  reacts  to  keep  the  spirit 
as  it  was.  To  what  extent  such  sins  as 
envy,  jealousy,  malignity  (sins  of  the 
spirit  solely)  will  work  themselves  into 
the  physical  nature,  the  nervous  nature, 
just  as  intemperance,  for  instance,  does, 
you  have  a proof  in  the  fact  that  they  will 
mold  the  whole  (countenance  into  their 
expression.  Pride,  haughtiness,  craftiness. 


18 


That  Better  World. 


will  show  themselves  in  the  whole  physi- 
cal form  and  bearing.  And  so  the  body, 
fashioned  into  sympathy  with  the  sins  of 
the  past,  tends  to  keep  the  spirit  fastened 
and  anchored  to  the  past,  and  death,  loos- 
ening the  spirit  from  the  body,  delivers  it 
from  this  encumbrance ; the  law  which  is 
in  the  members  no  longer  works  against 
the  law  of  the  spirit.  The  new  body  is 
called  the  spiritual  body,  partly  because  it 
is  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit,  catches  up, 
reflects,  confirms,  intensifies  its  aspirations 
and  desires  — works  with  it.  So  that  to 
the  good  man  the  mere  falling  away  of 
the  body  with  the  bonds  and  attachments 
which  it  has  thrown  around  the  spirit 
shall  be  at  once  the  entrance  upon  a life 
so  much  freer  and  nobler  and  higher  than 
the  present  that  we  cannot  know  now 
how  to  conceive  what  it  is. 

The  blessedness  of^  the  spiritual  body 
shall  be  not  only  in  what  it  delivers  the 
spirit  from,  but,  even  more,  in  that  which 


That  Better  World. 


19 


it  adds  unto  it.  It  shall  be  a spiritual 
body  in  that  all  its  members  and  func- 
tions shall  be  so  perfectly  subordinated 
to  the  indwelling  spirit,  so  quick  and 
true  to  catch  and  express  its  least  move- 
ment, so  instinct  and  pervaded  by  its  life 
as  to  be  itself  almost  spirit,  so  in  sym- 
pathy with  it  as  to  confirm  and  intensify 
all  its  aspirations  and  work  with  it  towards 
all  spiritual  ends.  That  new  body  shall 
not  be  as  the  present  too  often  is,  only 
a dark  wall,  behind  which  the  spirit  hides 
itself,  but  the  transparent  veil  through 
which  it  shines,  lit  up  and  transfigured 
by  the  indwelling  beauty  and  glory. 
There  shall  be  no  jar  between  the  body 
and  spirit ; no  more  shall  coarse  and  un- 
gracious features  disfigure  a sweet  and 
gracious  spirit ; no  more  shall  a harsh, 
grating  voice  mar  gentle  and  loving  sen- 
sibilities. Oh,  what  a strange  gush  and 
richness  of  soul  shall  pour  itself  forth  in 
the  very  tones  there,  when  the  new,  the 


20 


That  Better  World. 


spiritual  organs  shall  at  once  instinctivelj 
assume  the  very  shade  of  expression  most 
befitting  each  varying  emotion  of  the  soul ! 
what  joy  when  the  spirit  shall  mold  the 
countenance  and  the  form  into  the  like- 
ness of  its  own  grace  and  purity,  and 
every  figure  and  feature  shall  outrival 
all  that  artists  have  conceived,  for  the 
richest  ideals  of  this  Avorld  shall  be  sur- 
passed in  the  realities  of  that  I Then 
what  strange  powers  may  be  given  to 
that  spiritual  body;  through  what  vast 
distances  the  eye  may  send  its  glance, 
so  that  as  I behold  all  within  these  walls, 
even  with  such  distinctness  shall  the 
spiritual  man,  standing  on  the  battle- 
ments of  heaven,  send  his  vision  among 
distant  worlds ! Then,  too,  with  what 
incredible  ease  and  rapidity  and  delight 
may  these  spiritual  bodies  pass  from  place 
to  place,  as  even  now  at  the  bidding  of 
my  will  my  arm  moves,  so  at  the  like 
summons  the  spiritual  body  passing  from 


That  Better  World. 


21 


city  to  city  and  from  planet  to  planet 
with  like  ease  and  with  some  now  un- 
known delight ! Then  also  what  new 
senses  may  be  opened  in  the  spiritual 
body ; senses,  which  as  the  present  senses 
touch  oidy  the  forms,  the  phenomena  of 
things,  as  the  philosophers  say,  so  these 
new  senses  may  penetrate  into  the  very 
nature  and  essence  of  things  and  make 
us  to  see  truths  which  are  now  too  deep 
for  reason  to  reach.  God  only  knows 
what  new  and  strange  powers  may  de- 
velop themselves  in  the  spiritual  body  if 
not  at  the  instant  of  death,  yet  in  the 
progress  of  the  coming  life. 

Thus  have  I mentioned  a few  of  the 
things  suggested  in  the  teaching  regarding 
the  spiritual  body. 

And  before  I go  on  to  speak  of  what 
is  implied  in  that  other  representation  of 
heaven  as  a place  of  ineffable  beauty,  let 
me  say  that  I thiidv  good  people  have 
made  heaven  seem  less  attractive  than  it 


22 


That  Better  World. 


ought  to  be,  ill  two  ways.  First,  by  try- 
ing to  make  it  too  unlike  this  life,  as 
though  any  resemblance  to  this  world 
would  degrade  it — not  recognizing  that 
this  world  is  God’s  work  also,  and  might 
be  a heaven  if  those  who  dwell  in  it  were 
what  they  ought  to  be.  Then  also  they 
render  heaven  less  attractive  by  seeking 
to  make  its  happiness  consist  too  much 
in  one  thing,  one  kind  of  activity  and 
of  happiness  — overlooking  the  fact  that 
our  nature  was  made  for  many  kinds  of 
activity  and  happiness,  and  can  find  its 
full  heaven  only  in  them  all,  and  forgetting 
what  is  clearly  taught  and  symbolized  b}' 
the  tree  of  life,  bearing  twelve  manner  of 
fruit  and  yielding  its  fruit  every  month  ; 
the  boundless  diversity  of  pursuits  for 
which  heaven  may  and  undoubtedly  will 
afford  unrestricted  scope  and  opportunity. 
Why  should  conscience,  that  part  of  my 
nature  which  reveals  to  me  the  right,  and 
which,  therefore,  is  the  foundation  of 


That  Better  World. 


23 


righteousness  and  of  holiness,  be  con- 
sidered sacred,  while  that  other  part  of  my 
nature  which  reveals  to  me  the  beautiful 
be  not  sacred  also,  although  they  are 
alike  implanted  of  God,  alike  reveal  to 
us  something  in  the  nature  of  God,  and 
although  they  are  inseparably  bound  to- 
gether, since  if  we  should  practise  the 
right  merely  out  of  constraints  of  con- 
science, without  any  sense  of  the  beauty 
of  goodness,  conscience  itself  would  not 
be  satisfied,  for  to  be  truly  good  we  must 
feel  the  beauty  of  goodness  as  well  as  its 
obligation;  but  this  sense  of  the  beauty  of 
goodness  is  the  rudiment,  the  germ  of  all 
that  material  beauty  which  God  has  scat- 
tered over  the  universe,  meaning  that 
everywhere  there  should  be  suggestions, 
correspondences,  symbols  of  the  nobilities 
and  the  beauties  of  that  goodness  in  which 
our  nature  is  to  find  its  supremest  good. 
Yes,  beauty  is  divine;  beauty  is  sacred. 
It  shall  be  a part  of  our  heaven.  He  who 


24 


That  Better  World. 


made  a paradise  for  the  unfallen  race  has 
prepared  a grander  paradise  for  the  race 
redeemed.  That  garden  where  Adam 
and  Eve  dwelt  with  its  goodly  trees  “of 
noblest  kind”  (of  which  the  poet  tells) 
‘-‘for  sight,  smell,  taste,  its  flowers  of  all 
hues,  its  rose  without  thorn,  its  vernal 
airs,  breathing  the  smell  of  field  and 
grove,”  — this  is  only  the  type  of  that 
heavenly  garden,  fairer  than  any  poet’s 
fancy  ever  conceived,  which  shall  reveal 
itself  in  advancing  ages  in  fuller  and 
fuller  measure  to  the  ever-advancing 
spirit,  to  be  looked  upon  also  by  eyes 
endowed  with  a finer  sense  of  observa- 
tion, a keener  relish  of  beauty,  a richer 
glow  of  sensibility  than  we  can  now  con- 
ceive. Forms  of  beauty  richer  than  any 
artist’s  fancy  conceived  shall  brighten 
every  pathway  of  that  better  land.  For 
I believe  that  all  the  higher  faculties, 
kept  dowii  here,  by  hard  circumstances, 
in  many  a true  and  Christian  man,  there 


That  Better  World. 


25 


shall  have  a chance  to  develop  themselves 
and  to  3deld  each  its  appropriate  felicity. 

Oh,  these  wondrous  minds  which  God 
has  given  to  us  all,  capable  of  such  vast 
improvement,  of  such  noble  achievements, 
of  such  rich  happiness,  made  for  some- 
thing better  than  tliis  life  makes  possible 
to  most  of  us, — kept  down  by  grinding 
conditions  of  poverty,  lack  of  culture, 
buried  under  tlie  rubbish  of  poor  and 
narrow  cares,  — there,  beyond  the  grave 
liberated,  they  shall  break  forth  and  range 
with  unutterable  joy  through  the  limitless 
domains  of  knowledge,  of  thought,  of 
fancy  ; shall  expatiate  through  the  broad 
universe  of  truth,  everywhere  gathering 
vast  and  rich  materials  to  kindle  emotion, 
•to  quicken  thought,  to  deepen  joy,  to  exalt 
tlie  spirit,  to  inspire  worship.  The  quiet 
pleasures  of  research  and  study  which 
fall  in  life  only  to  the  lot  of  a few  cul- 
-tivated  minds,  but  of  which  multitudes 
.of  the  poorest  and  the  1 nimblest  are  as 


26 


That  Better  World. 


capable  as  any,  shall  be  in  that  better 
world  an  element  of  rich  delight  in  the  cup 
of  every  child  of  God.  There  is  the  young 
person  now  present  who,  if  he  be  true 
to  the  highest  law  of  his  nature,  which  is 
the  law  of  his  God,  shall  find  himself  in 
that  blessed  world,  in  some  coming  period, 
gifted  with  a deeper  insight  of  truth,  a 
sublimer  style  of  thought  and  speech  than 
ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  most  gifted  son 
of  earth ; and  all  the  raptures  which  the 
masters  of  eloquence,  of  thought,  of 
poetry  ever  felt  when  swept  along  by 
the  inspiration  of  genius,  and  bearing 
delighted  auditors  with  them,  shall  be 
as  naught  compared  with  his,  when  he 
shall  rise  to  heights  from  which  he  can 
look  down  upon  their  loftiest  flights  as 
the  efforts  of  mere  children.  Ambition, 
the  natural  emulation  which  God  has 
implanted  and  made  one  of  our  strongest 
passions,  and  which  when  found  in  an  un- 
selfish and  magnanimous  nature  is  only  an 


That  Better  World. 


27 


added  beauty  to  the  character,  is  (I  often 
think)  an  argument  for  another  life.  For- 
ever baffled  here  in  the  case  of  almost  all, 
it  points  forward  to  a coming  existence 
where  it  shall  find  its  fulfilment  and  its 
fruition.  Heaven  is  to  be  no  dull  and 
listless  world.  There  shall  be  great  and 
stirring  events  in  comparison  with  which 
the  most  exciting  achievements  of  earth 
shall  be  only  as  children’s  sport.  Oh, 
thou  young  man,  whose  heart  is  beating 
to  the  quick  pulsations  of  a generous  am- 
bition, did  you  not  know,  have  you  not 
read  in  the  Bible  that  there  is  an  honor 
and  glory  eternal?  Did  you  not  know 
that  there  is  a sphere  of  action  as  mucli 
broader  and  higher  than  any  here  as 
heaven  is  higher  than  earth,  as  eternity  is 
longer  than  time  ? exploits  to  be  wrought 
there  by  the  side  of  which  those  of  earthly 
heroes  are  only  the  listless  efforts  of  weak 
and  disordered  intellects  ? 

But  let  me  turn  to  anotlier  of  the  em- 


28 


That  Better  World. 


ployments  and  enjoyments  of  heaven.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  the  future  life  will  be 
full  of  opportunities  for  quiet,  humble, 
self-sacrificing  benevolence.  When  I con- 
sider how  the  whole  discipline  of  life 
serves  to  implant  this  principle  to  those 
who  take  it  aright  — all  domestic,  social, 
civil  life ; when  I consider  how  all  the 
influences  and  teachings  of  Christianity 
tend  to  the  same  result  (to  lead  us  to 
sink  self  in  thoughts  of  the  good  of 
others),  — I cannot  think  that  there  is  any 
such  harsh  discontinuity  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  providence  that  we,  thus  disci- 
plined all  our  lives,  should  find  ourselves 
at  death  instantly  transferred  to  a state 
for  which  all  this  training  has  no  relation, 
a condition  of  easy,  supine,  half-selfish 
happiness.  To  multitudes  of  the  best 
spirits  this  happiness  would  be  no  happi- 
ness. They  would  spurn  it  for  the 
happiness  of  self-sacrifice. 

•.  And  if  it  be  asked.  What  room  for  this 


That  Better  World. 


29 


in  heaven  where  are  none  to  be  helped? 
— perhaps  our  conception  of  the  future  life 
is  not  the  wisest  — if  no  more,  there  are  in 
that  world  grades  of  happiness ; and  may 
not  the  higher  find  some  room  for  their 
benevolent  activity  in  lifting  to  their  own 
level  those  beneath  them?  But  there 
must  be  more  than  this.  Are  we  not  told 
of  the  blessed,  that  they  are  ministering 
spirits  to  those  that  live?  and  does  not 
that  open  to  us  one  source  of  benevolent 
activity  possible  to  them  ? And  do  we 
not  read  of  the  angels,  that  they  rejoice 
over  the  repentant  sinner  ? and  does  not 
that  give  us  to  see  some  relations  of  love 
which  they  sustain  to  the  wicked  and  suf- 
fering ? Are  we  not  told  of  their  being 
sent  on  embassies  of  love  ? I doubt  not 
that  in  that  better  world  there  shall  be  not 
only  opportunities  for  quiet,  humble,  lov- 
ing service,  such  as  shall  befit  and  satisfy 
all  tlie  aspirations  of  some  of  us,  but 
there  shall  be  also  grand  achievements  of 


30 


That  Better  World. 


benevolence  such  as  shall  satisfy  those 
with  whose  benevolence  is  joined  also  the 
desire  for  high  and  glorious  activity. 
Who  knows  what  grand  enterprises  of 
benevolence  reaching  beyond  the  limits  of 
heaven,  if  I may  so  speak,  involving  in 
their  issues  the  destinies  of  jnyriads  of 
beings,  may  be  entrusted  to  the  skill  and 
the  wisdom  and  the  energy  of  redeemed 
and  exalted  spirits  ? Who  knows  what 
regions  of  God’s  dominion  may  be  con- 
trolled and  governed  and  molded  by  the 
sons  of  light?  We  read  of  dominions  and 
principalities  and  powers  in  heaven,  mak- 
ing us  to  know  not  only  that  there  is  no 
dull  uniformity  of  life  there,  but  also  that 
the  blessed  spirits  shall  be  ever  rising  to 
higher  grades  of  goodness  and  of  great- 
ness according  to  their  vaiying  measure  of 
beneficent  power.  In  heaven  as  on  earth 
the  door  to  the  best  greatness  shall  be 
Christian  goodness. 

I scarcely  regret  that  I have  not  suffi- 


That  Better  World. 


31 


cient  time  to  speak  of  another  source  of 
happiness.  The  friendships  of  heaven  is 
a subject  so  tender  we  should  hardly  dare 
trust  ourselves  to  speak  of  it.  Who  has 
not  felt,  at  least  at  times,  that  the  renewed 
friendships  and  affections  of  heaven  must 
make  its  supreme  felicity  ? To  take  the 
beloved  ones  again  by  the  hand,  to  look 
into  the  dear  faces,  to  talk  of  all  the  way 
God  has  led  us,  — together  to  explore  the 
wonders  of  the  new  existence,  — it  seems 
as  though  this  were  all  the  heaven  we 
should  desire.  Friendship  is  the  best  hap- 
piness of  this  world;  but  friendship  is  a 
flower  almost  too  delicate  for  the  bleak 
airs  and  the  rough  winds  and  the  thin  soil 
of  our  world.  In  heaven  it  shall  bloom 
with  a sweetness  of  perfume  and  drop  a 
richness  of  fruit  which  earth  can  never 
know. 

There  we  shall  meet  the  dear  departed 
ones,  whose  virtues  and  graces,  ethereal- 
ized  by  the  touch  of  death,  are  garnered 


32 


That  Better  World. 


ill  our  memories.  In  a moment  we  shall 
know  them.  Though  so  strangely  altered, 
though  in  every  lineament  and  feature 
there  shall  be  the  glow  and  beauty  of 
heaven,  we  shall  know  them  at  once.  Oh, 
the  joy  of  those  meetings  ! Who  can  tell 
of  the  sweetness  which  the  interchange  of 
love  shall  add  to  all  the  felicity  of  heaven, 
without  which  it  would  not  be  heaven  ? 
How  shall  we  love  to  talk  of  all  the  way 
God  has  led  us!  How  shall  we  wonder 
and  mourn  that  in  the  cares  and  selfish- 
ness of  the  life  we  lived  on  earth  we  had 
not  better  revealed  the  deeper  experience 
of  our  nature  to  one  another  and  known 
more  of  the  love  which  was  in  each  other’s 
hearts,  and  jnelded  a more  helpful  sympa- 
thy to  one  another  ! Oh,  the  bliss  of  the 
long-tried  friendships  and  loves  that  shall 
survive  the  grave ! of  the  way-worn  com- 
rades “ who  shall  renew  their  pledges  on 
the  farther  side  of  the  river  of  death  ” ! 
As  some  one  says,  ‘‘Wot  a pang,  not  a 


That  Better  World, 


33 


parting,  not  a self-denial,  not  a self-sacri- 
fice but  shall  there  be  fondly  remembered. 
Acts  and  sufferings  which  could  not  be 
spoken  of  here,  too  sacred,  too  sublime, 
will  reveal  there  their  depths  of  love. 
Ye  who  live,  bear  bravely,  silently,  the 
strain  of  unselfish  self-sacrificing,  minis- 
tering tenderness;  it  is  making  love  im- 
mortal ; it  is  making  the  bliss  of  heaven 
intense  and  complete.” 

And  there  are  new  friendships  in 
heaven  as  well  as  the  renewal  of  the 
old  ones.  What  illustrious  characters 
must  meet  together  there  — all  the  great 
and  good  who  ever  walked  our  earth. 
And  we  may  enrich  ourselves  every  day 
with  some  new  friendship  of  some  lofty 
spirit,  of  whom  we  have  read  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  good,  or  whose  recorded 
words  have  stirred  and  quickened  our 
hearts. 

And  there  shall  be  other  spirits  besides 
the  illustrious  sons  of  earth  whom  we 


34 


That  Better  World, 


may  see  and  know.  Heaven  is  gathering 
within  its  walls  all  that  is  pure  and  rich 
and  divine  from  every  quarter  of  the 
universe.  There  we  may  see,  perchance, 
and  converse  with  beings  of  a different 
order,  spirits  from  other  worlds,  trained 
under  different  conditions ; angels,  per- 
haps, who  have  been  gathering  wisdom, 
enlarging  their  thoughts  and  powers  for 
more  ages  than  our  world  has  existed 
years,  and  whose  memories  contain  the 
history  of  worlds,  perchance,  and  systems 
of  worlds.  We  have  thought  it  the  dis- 
tinction of  our  lives,  perhaps,  that  we 
have  heard  words  from  the  lips  of  some 
famous  master  of  wisdom  or  of  eloquence. 
What  a divine  pleasure  worthy  of  heaven 
to  hear  one  of  these  sons  of  immortality 
discoursing  of  his  treasured  wisdom  in 
strains  such  as  angels  use  ! As  we  think 
of  it,  we  are  lost  in  wonder  at  the  possi- 
bility of  such  destinies  of  blessedness 
awaiting  such  as  we, 


l^hat  Better  World. 


35 


But  Christ  shall  be  the  grand  attrac- 
tion of  heaven ; his  friendship  its  su- 
preme felicity.  When  we  consider  how 
glorious  a being  He  is,  it  seems  as  thougli 
such  as  we  could  only  stand  at  a distance 
and  adore  and  worship  him.  Then  we 
remember  what  the  disciples  were,  how 
dull  of  comprehension,  how  unworthy  ia 
character,  and  yet  how  closely  He  took 
them  to  His  heart,  how  tenderly  He 
loved  them  even  unto  the  end,  and  we 
feel  that  to  us  also,  at  least  when  refined 
by  the  touch  of  death,  there  may  be  the 
same  felicity.  He  shall  be  our  friend  and 
companion  (as  Paul  taught,  and  the  good 
have  always  believed),  and  shall  come 
nearer  to  us  and  we  come  nearer  to 
Him,  perhaps,  than  to  any  of  our  earthly 
friends.  We  know  not  liow  to  speak  of 
this  friendship.  We  doubt  not  that  the 
smile  of  recognition  wherewith  He  shall 
meet  the  ascending  spirit  shall  be  the 
beginning  of  its  felicity,  and,  when  thou- 


36 


That  Better  World, 


sands  of  ages  shall  have  passed  away, 
the  spirit  shall  find  nothing  so  sweet  in 
all  the  universe  of  its  delights  as  His 
friendship. 

Thus  poorly  have  I spoken  to  you  of 
heaven.  If  I had  had  much  more  of  time 
and  ability,  I should  still  have  spoken 
poorly.  No  thought  or  speech  of  man 
can  do  it  justice.  If  we  should  ever  reach 
that  better  world,  how  poor  and  tame  the 
most  glowing  representation  will  seem  in 
comparison  with  the  reality  I 

Is  there  indeed  a world  where  we  shall 
be  delivered  from  the  infirmities  and  the 
limitations,  the  pains  and  the  weariness 
of  the  earth,  and  be  clothed  upon  with 
bodies  that  shall  flourish  in  immortal 
youth  and  vigor?  Is  there  a paradise,  a 
garden  of  our  God  set  off  with  a beauty 
and  a glory  by  the  side  of  which  what  is 
fairest  on  earth  is  but  as  the  desert  where 
the  owl  and  the  satyr  dwell ; a garden 
which  our  feet  shall  tread  and  our  eyes 


That  Better  World. 


87 


look  upon  ? Is  there  a world  under 
whose  genial  influence  all  our  faculties 
and  capacities  shall  revel  in  all  treasures 
of  thought,  and  in  time  rise  to  unknown 
heights  of  greatness?  Is  there  a world 
where  we  shall  dwell  with  all  pure  and 
loving  spirits,  where  we  shall  be  reunited 
forever  with  those  we  most  love  and 
honor  ; where  we  shall  behold  the  face  of 
Jesus  and  share  his  felicity  forever? 
What  should  we  need  more  than  that 
simple  thought  to  lift  us  above  the  depres- 
sions and  temptations  of  the  world  ; to 
arm  us  with  fortitude ; to  inspire  us  with 
zeal,  and  to  make  us  live  for  things  that 
are  heavenly  and  eternal  ? 

“Oh,  could  we,”  as  some  one  says  — 
“ could  we  but  lift  the  veil  and  sweep  one 
earnest  glance  over  the  heavenly  plains, 
our  life  would  become  a longing  for  the 
moment  of  emancipation ; and  of  all 
God’s  angels,  the  brightest  and  most  wel- 
come would  be  his  angel  of  Death  ! 


38 


That  BeMer  World. 


Who  would  not  rather  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  far  better,  if  he  was  as 
sure  as  the  apostle  was  that  his  lifework 
was  accomplished,  his  battle  fought  out. 
Ids  victory  forever  won ! What  here 
would  keep  us  from  the  white-robed 
throng,  the  palm,  the  crown,  the  vision 
of  the  Saviour,  the  rest  of  the  blessed 
and  glorified  ? ” 


